Creating a Membership SKU

Creating a Membership SKU

Membership is a Status that is achieved when a user either purchases a SKU that is set to trigger membership or an Admin manually grants membership to a user.

To add a new Membership SKU to your Membership Form you need to first create the SKU in the Catalog and then add the new SKU to your Membership Form.

Video - Creating a Membership SKU



Step 1 - To create the SKU, go to Store & Forms / Catalog / Add New Product.

On the Product Information tab:


SKU - The SKU is the code in your Membership Toolkit system that tracks all of your transactions.

What you need to know about creating SKUs for products in your catalog:
  • No spaces.
  • Use number, letters, hyphens, and underscores.
  • Reports are run by SKU. Be logical in creating your SKU. For example: all school supplies should start with SUPPLIES or SS so all of these items are grouped together in your report.
  • Changes made on a form will not be reflected in the Catalog. 

Product Active? - Select "Yes."  If you select "No," it won't appear in your lists for creating forms.  You can retire old SKUs by making them inactive.
Description - The label used on your forms.  
Special Notes - Special notes appear directly below the item in the product list. It is a good place to provide a brief description.
Extended Description - This is where you put more information about a particular product. The extended description is presented in a drop down box below the item in the list on your form. If membership comes with benefits, you may want to include them in the extended description.

On the Sales Information tab:



Sales Price - Set your price for the membership
Allow custom price? - Usually set to "no" unless it's a donation.
Item Taxable? - Sales tax does not apply to memberships.
Category - The financial category associated with the SKU.  This will keep your reports organized.
Ledger Accounts & Amounts for Income - Specify accounts if you are using the Membership Toolkit Accounting Tools.
Is this product deliverable? - Membership is usually not unless your members receive a gift with purchase.
Manage Inventory? - No, unless there are a limited number being sold.

On the Membership tab:



Purchase of the SKU Changes Membership Status? - If you want the person, family, or company to be recognized as a member in your database, this field needs to be set to YES.
What type of membership? - Select which level of membership is associated with the SKU. (If you need to edit the choices for the type of Memberships you offer, go to People / Configuration / Membership Types.)
How Many? - You can choose 1 - 4 memberships for one SKU, though typically this is set to 1. If you are offering a Family membership you may want to change this to 2 which will then include a membership for 2 parents on the account.
How Membership Status is Allocated in a Family
  • The 1st membership is given to the 1st parent on the family account.
  • The 2nd membership is given to the 2nd parent on the family account.
  • The 3rd membership is given to the 1st active student on the family account.
  • The 4th membership is given to the 2nd active student on the family account.
Expiration Type - Do you want the membership to expire on a particular date or after a particular number of days have passed?
Expiration Date - If you selected "Specific Date" for the Type, what date does the membership expire?
Days After Purchase - If you selected "Date Relative to Purchase" for the Type, how many days until the membership expires?

Images, Event, & Options tabs:  Membership SKUs typically don't use these.
Usage tab:  Tells you where the SKU has been used and how many times it has been purchased.


Step 2 - To add the Membership SKU (Line Item) to the Form, see our article on Adding a SKU to a Form. 


  • Membership status is only granted after the order has been paid in FULL.
  • Canceling an order does not automatically remove membership status.  Admins must remove this manually on the contact record.
  • When granting multiple memberships, the system can only tag as many people as are on the user's account. So, if the user buys 4 memberships, but only has himself, a spouse and one student listed on their contact record, only 3 memberships will be applied. Though the accounting will still show the purchase of 4.
  • Memberships should NOT be sold on Guest Forms. "Guest" users don't have an account and therefore will not be tagged as members.


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